BRIGHTON — When 4-year-old Gabriel Trujillo returned to school from Christmas break in January 2012, his teachers observed bruises and dramatic changes in his behavior that so concerned them that they made a report to Adams County social services.

That call led to a series of medical visits and interviews to try to determine if Gabriel's injuries were signs of abuse.

Doctors and social workers said they were concerned but testified Thursday that wasn't enough evidence to suggest the injuries were caused by anything other than accidents, as his grandmother and legal guardian Doris Becky Trujillo suggested.

Gabriel and his two sisters were not removed from Trujillo's home. Gabriel died at the hospital Feb. 17, three days after police found him at his Commerce City house, naked and unresponsive.

Gabriel Trujillo was 4 when he died in a hospital in February 2012. (Denver Post file)

Trujillo is now standing trial for charges of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.

Defense attorneys have suggested that the behavior changes were the result of undetected medical problems, not child abuse occurring at home.

Trujillo was concerned for Gabriel, and tried to find help, her attorneys said.

During cross examination, Gabriel's preschool teacher Jessica Grunstad testified that in December 2011, just prior to Christmas break, Gabriel had begun missing school. When she called the boy's grandma, she learned of Becky Trujillo's concerns.

"She said she was concerned with his behavior at home. She said he was getting upset and she was seeking outside help, talking to a therapist and wanted his OK that he could return to school," Grunstad said. "I hadn't seen anything even close to that at school."

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After Christmas break, Gabriel returned to preschool, but he was no longer smiling and talking, he had multiple bruises on his legs and face and one of his arms was in a cast, said Lizbet Duran, the paraprofessional in Gabriel's class at Central Elementary in Commerce City who testified in court on Thursday.

Duran said Gabriel chose not to play during recess.

"I asked him, 'Gabriel why aren't you playing?' " Duran recalled in court. "He said 'I just need to rest.' And he sat there the whole recess."

An Adams County social worker testified Wednesday that they responded to the Trujillo home the same day.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as they spoke to the boy around the corner from his grandmother, the social worker said. Gabriel explained some of his bruises by saying he had fallen backwards on his blocks.

Still, the social worker asked Becky to take Gabriel to a doctor to be evaluated for the injuries.

Doctors at Rocky Mountain Urgent Care evaluated Gabriel and talked to him in a room alone, but also couldn't make a determination as to whether he had been abused. They asked the family to go to the emergency room of Children's Hospital instead.

Doctors from that visit have not testified.

But another doctor that had been seeing the family for more than a year testified that she had seen Gabriel three times in the months before his death.

One of those visits, in late December, confirms Trujillo was worried about the boy and sought help for him, the lawyers said.

"Becky herself was complaining that he had too many bruises. She was concerned, right?" defense attorney Daniel Mossinghoff asked pediatrician Dr. Sarah Winbourn.

Winbourn said she saw red flags, but said she didn't find injuries to confirm there was abuse happening in the home.

"It's really hard at that age because their concept of what's normal and not is really based on their home life," Winbourn said.

She saw Gabriel once more in January, after the social services investigation. Trujillo was worried about everything that was going on and asked for a follow-up visit.

Winbourn said she ordered blood tests that day to "make sure the bruises weren't from something else."

Duran said Gabriel came back to school at least once after the social services report, but the boy was withdrawn soon after.

On Feb. 7, Gabriel's paternal grandmother called police asking for a welfare check because she had seen the boy bruised and injured.

A Commerce City police officer testified Wednesday that on that day, he talked to social workers and abandoned the welfare check following a conversation with them about their recent investigation.

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